


Safe and Sound

by Liyyah



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Post QoN
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24295327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liyyah/pseuds/Liyyah
Summary: Jude has started having nightmares. But Cardan is always there when she wakes.
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 9
Kudos: 167





	Safe and Sound

Jude startles awake, violently. Her breaths come in short gasps as she bolts upright, a blade already in her hand. But there is no outward threat. There is nothing to fight. The only enemy is her own mind.

“Jude?” Cardan calls groggily as he turns to look at her.

His eyes fall warily to the weapon in her grip and she quickly returns it to its place under her pillow, pretending she doesn’t notice the way her hand shakes. Tendrils of the dream still linger, wrapping themselves around her in an almost loving caress, attempting to steal what sanity she has left.

“Another nightmare?” asks Cardan and Jude simply nods as she settles back down.

In the wake of the events that led to her becoming the Queen of Elfhame, Jude has become plagued by nightmares. She finds herself back at the undersea with Queen Orlagh as her torturer. She watches as the serpent that her husband was once transformed into is cut down by her own hand, falling to a lifeless heap forever. Sometimes she is even back at the coronation, watching as members of the royal family fall to their deaths, only it is her own sisters she finds bleeding out instead.

“What did you dream?”

Jude has never told Cardan the contents of her night terrors. She is still working on taking off her armor.

She opens her mouth to tell him she doesn’t want to talk about it but something in his eyes stops her. Anyone else would miss the worry that flits across his face. But Jude has never been anyone else. She recognizes his expression well. It was once her own. She wore it every day during his curse.

“I was in the undersea again,” she confesses instead with a sigh.

“Orlagh can be terrifying, even in dreams.”

Jude plays with the edges of the blanket, avoiding his gaze as she ponders how much she should reveal.

“It wasn’t Queen Orlagh this time,” she finally tells him. “It was Balekin.”

“Oh.”

Looking up, she finds that Cardan has carefully schooled his features into a neutral expression. But Jude can feel the shift in him. The tension that seems to radiate off his skin in waves.

“What did he do?”

“He glamoured me to kiss him.”

“In the dream only?”

She wants to lie so badly. But she won’t. Not to him.

“No.”

Cardan’s eyes flash.

“I almost wish he was still alive so that I could kill him myself,” he says, voice dangerously low.

“Well, too bad. I killed him first.”

Her tone is light-hearted as she tries to make that anger disappear. Cardan’s rage is thinly veiled but there is nothing that either of them can do about such things now.

“Besides it’s not like I was actually glamoured,” she adds. “I just had to keep up appearances.”

“That isn’t any better,” he frowns.

“It’s fine Cardan,” she tells him as she moves closer.

Her head is on his chest now and his arm automatically snakes around her waist, pulling her closer. She listens to the sound of his breathing, her fingers tracing patterns on his skin.

“It’s not fine if you’re having nightmares about it.”

“I have nightmares about everything,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but a lot of shit has happened.”

She doesn’t want him to know just how right he is. Because a dream like that takes hold of her and all of a sudden, she’s right back beneath the ocean with Balekin’s lips on hers as if it were yesterday. Just like that she’s a helpless mortal girl all over again and she wants to scream and scream until her lungs give out.

By the silence that stretches on she can tell he doesn’t quite believe her. But he won’t push her.

“I am sorry,” he says abruptly, taking her by surprise.

Faeries are not in the habit of apologizing.

“What for?” she asks, pulling back to look at him.

“For not getting you out of there sooner.”

“Cardan,” she breathes. “I’m grateful you got me out at all. Especially considering the cost.”

As High King, Cardan never should have authorized an attack against the Court of Termites. They are his subjects. Roiben’s fury was wholly justified.

Yet he did it, for her.

“I would start so many wars for you,” he says softly.

Jude’s heart stutters within her. The weight of his words settles in her stomach and bloom like flowers. Maybe it should scare her, the lengths that he would go but she has come to learn that she would go to far greater for him.

“As the Queen of Elfhame I have to say I find that mildly unsettling,” she teases.

“What about as my wife?” Cardan asks, a small smile visible on his face.

“As your wife I suppose I’m flattered,” she answers, the corner of her own mouth upturned.

“Good,” he mumbles into her hair and Jude snuggles closer to him, an act she once never dared to even think of. “Your place is at my side. Always.”

“Unless you exile me again of course.”

“Are you never going to let that go?” he asks exasperatedly.

“Never,” Jude grins.

“Technically you were never _actually_ exiled because you could have pardoned yourself-”

She cuts him off with a kiss, her lips moving languidly against his. Jude has heard this argument far too many times. Her fingers tangle in his midnight curls as she climbs on top of him. His hands grip her waist, painting her in shades of gold as a sigh leaves her throat.

“It’s a wonder I get any sleep with you,” he says as he gazes up at her, eyes dark.

“Well you don’t seem to complain much,” she replies.

But as she leans in again, Cardan stops her.

“You should get some rest,” he says, his thumb tenderly brushing against her cheek.

“That’s not as fun though,” she complains.

“It isn’t,” he responds, his own voice full of regret. “But you haven’t been sleeping well lately Jude.”

She doesn’t say anything but when he gestures for her to lay next to him, she complies. He pulls her against him once more, his hands settling on the small of her back.

“You’re safe,” he says, so quietly she almost does not hear him.

Something in her breaks loose at his statement. Jude left safety behind the moment she watched her mother be murdered. But here, at this very second, she finds herself believing him. She is the Queen and there will always be threats but she is not alone in what she faces. There is someone who would do anything for her.

“I know,” she eventually whispers back.

His hold on her tightens just a little and her eyes fall shut. Throughout all her days in Elfhame, Jude has always been on guard. But at Cardan’s side, in their bed, she is able to breathe. With him, everything is alright.

Jude has lived in the mortal world. She has lived in Faerieland. But it is in Cardan’s arms that she finds home

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in a very long time this just happened when I was having feelings so I decided why not post it. Hope it's okay!


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